Hunkering Down for the Hurricane

According to local media, we're currently in the throws of Hurricane Sandy. Last night when I checked the weather line for work, the message reported that they would be under "normal operating conditions" for Monday but those who had leave saved up had approval to use it. Since I'm saving up as much of my leave time as possible for when I go out on maternity, I went in. Got up early, packed my lunch, rocked Joey back to sleep (he woke up again before I left so Daddy had to cuddle him while I finished getting ready), headed to work. Not surprisingly, the parking lot was bare. Several co-workers called in and said they'd be using their leave, I didn't blame them, I would be too if I had any to spare. Thankfully that early in the day, it was just rain and no wind. Eventually, the decision was made for everyone to leave no later than noon and not to worry about coming in tomorrow (Tuesday). Since I got some hours in this morning, I may not have to use leave for tomorrow if I can make up the remaining hours and hit 40 by Friday.

I got home around 11:30 and Joey was happy to see me. He pretty much spent the whole day with me or as much as he possibly could. For the rest of the morning and early afternoon, the weather stayed mostly just rainy. I took advantage of still having power and got through as many dirty dishes as I could and two loads of laundry. If we do lose power, at least we'll have clean underwear ;) I also took the opportunity to go through the diaper bag and clean it out, a desperately needed task. Once it was clean and re-stocked, I added a change of clothes for Joey and some pajamas, just in case. Tomorrow I'll pack a bag for me just to be ready. We wouldn't go anywhere if we lose power, but I've seen some pictures already from facebook friends of fallen trees in their neighborhoods and if, God forbid, that happens to us, we will be finding shelter elsewhere. My labor bag is also packed and (nearly) ready to go; it has been for a couple of weeks now. It would totally be like one of my kids to decide to come while the weather is absolutely atrocious and the governor of the state ordered everybody to stay off the roads. It's not like an ambo would be much safer in these high winds either.

Keeping Joey (and Dan) entertained is going to be interesting. When the weather is good, they play outside a lot while I'm at work. They also play inside a lot, but even when it's cold or slightly rainy, they will at least get to run errands to get out of the house. Today and tomorrow, that option won't be there, and nobody knows about Wednesday. Thankfully, while we still have power and internet, I got some ideas off Pinterest and from some of the moms in my due date club. I want to have enough ideas as backups for if/when the power goes out and I can't put on Curious George to have 20 minutes of quiet time. Hmm, maybe we should invest in a few episodes of George from iTunes that we can put on the iPod...

My feet are slightly swollen for the first time this entire pregnancy. I could tell certain shoes were feeling a little tight but no obvious signs of swelling beyond that. I've felt it a little bit in my fingers but nothing you can look at and go "your hands are swollen". Today my right foot was obviously slightly swollen. Probably because of how much I was doing today and how little water I drank in comparison. I passed Joey off to Dan, grabbed my water bottle and a snack and am now sitting in bed with my feet up. I started to get some Braxton Hicks contractions, not regular or in any kind of pattern but enough close enough together to remind me that I'm still pregnant and should be taking it easy.

Pin-possible

 As a recent addict of Pinterest.com, I find myself with loads and loads of pins on my boards and grand plans to try them one day. I've actually been a member for a while, but wasn't until the nesting bug kicked in more recently that I actually started spending larger amounts of time browsing through pins. I have to say that nesting via Pinterest is much cheaper and easier than shopping or cleaning, it could help explain why I haven't had swelling quite as bad as I did with Joey since I've been sitting so much ;)

So far most of the pins I've actually tried have been recipes, however there have been a couple things that I've managed to do that are unrelated to food. The first was simple: finger paint in a Ziploc bag which was then taped to a hard, flat surface. Joey liked it, but as per usual, is more interested in running around the kitchen because he's not always allowed in there. He did go back to the paint a couple of times, but this one might be a rainy day activity rather than an every day activity to keep him occupied while contained.

The next pin was a way of doing your own manicure with designs. I'd never thought of using Scotch tape to do nail polish designs but it totally works--IF you let the polish dry completely first! My biggest mistake was attempting to do this while Joey was awake and not being patient enough waiting for the nails to dry completely. The other trick I learned was that you can paint a strip of polish on a plastic baggy, then peel the strip off and stick it to your nails (shown in green here)! My strips were pretty fat so I folded them in half and they were much more proportional once I did that (except the stripes on my thumbs I left wide). I think next time I won't be in such a hurry and will let the nails sit for a couple hours between each step to ensure they dry all the way (you finish by topping the whole nail with a coat of clear).

I have also finished a couple other pins but have not taken my own pictures yet, so those will be coming later. In other news...

Joey is a pretty hilarious kid. His personality shows through so well now and he's totally a mix of me and Dan! He's crazy active, loves to play, especially outside with sticks and dirt, but we can usually get him to sit quietly for 20min or so with an episode of Curious George. The words he does say only we really can tell what they are, but that's ok because he's not really supposed to be comprehend-able yet ;) He says "Cheese", "Please", "George", and "Ball" consistently, and then other words that sound very similar to those but we generally aren't sure what he means. He still signs "Please", "More", and "Light" on a daily basis and while I'm trying to introduce more signing vocab as consistently as I can, he's determined not to learn any more than those haha. He also refers to anything that's round as a "ball" whether it's even remotely close to a ball or not. When we went to the pumpkin patch last week, he was super excited to see so many "balls". Food is still an adventure, not surprisingly (if you know us) he likes cheeses, meats, and breads. We're working on fruits and veggies but thankfully toddler nutrition is looked at over the course of a week and not day by day, *phew*. He loooooves mac & cheese. Yesterday Dan made some for lunch and put extra in my bowl so I could share with Joey. I had to stop feeding Joey and send him over to Dan (who had extra in his bowl too) because otherwise I was only going to have a few bites left, he ate a BUNCH! He also started sharing my bagels with me in the mornings when I'm home, especially since he tried my pumpkin spice bagel. I need to go back to BJs and get more, they're sooo good!

Gotta go get ready for work now, already spent way too much time online ;) In the meantime, enjoy these pictures of Joey playing outside with a stick!

Pumpkin Patch

Today Aunt Cheryl came over for a visit! We haven't seen her in a couple months because she's been away working on a cruise ship! Today she came over and we went to the pumpkin patch! We didn't get anything because I have no desire to carve a pumpkin and also the line for the cash register was long. But we got some super cute pictures of Joey, who was very interested in trying to pick up the "balls" (pumpkins). We used to go to this pumpkin patch when I was little and I hadn't been in years. It definitely felt smaller than I remember, but we didn't go for a hay ride or anything so that could have been part of it, but I doubt it. Joey liked running around and trying to lift the pumpkins, he was generally unsuccessful (until we found the much smaller ones in a box closer to the barn) but that still didn't stop him from trying!

Baby G 2.0

Tuesday we had a 3D ultrasound back at That's My Baby. Since I went there for the gender deal, the second visit was discounted, I love that even though we're on a budget, we can still sneak a peak at #2's face! Dan and Joey were able to make it, as the appointment was right after work I drove straight there and met them. It took a while to get these pictures because #2 kept putting his foot in his eye! You can sort of tell it's up there in the first set of pictures, he had moved it just enough for us to see his face. Below you can see in a couple pictures below, we also caught him sticking out his tongue!

Joey was entertained for a few minutes by the ultrasound, he recognized that there was a baby on the screen. Then he was more interested in climbing the little step stool to get onto the bed where I was. He didn't want to be on the bed with me, he wanted to go up and down the steps. We have some B&W and 2D pictures too, but I still need to scan them so they'll come later.

Joey at 32w on the left and #2 at 33w on the right, definitely brothers!

There is now a Little Tykes slide in the waiting room and Joey LOVED it!